


Madness Most Discreet

by sunflowerbright



Series: Gift-Verse [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, almost-sexytimes, crackish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 05:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowerbright/pseuds/sunflowerbright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Doctor, there isn't any concrete in here for you to resonate, so you might as well answer my question properly'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Madness Most Discreet

**Author's Note:**

> Third in the Gift'Verse, this one set about two months after 'In Orbit Around You'.

_Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs,_  
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes, Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.  
What is it else? A madness most discreet,  
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.   
\-- William Shakespeare

 

The soft rustling of a page being turned was all the warning he got. ”Doctor, have I ever told you you’re an idiot?”

The Doctor snorted, busy tweaking away on a loose wire in the TARDIS control-panel. ”Yes. Frequently.”

He imagined Donna leaning a little closer, book grasped in one hand, staring intently down at him from her place in the jump seat.

”Yeah?” she asked

”Yeah so?” he asked right back.

”Aren’t you going to ask _why_ I think you’re an idiot?”

”Most likely for some unfathomable and silly reason that I am sure only you can make sense of.”

“It’s ‘cause you’re male.”

Okay, so – out of all the possible things she could’ve said – that was not what he’d expected to hear. No matter that it was fairly obvious of Donna to say something like that.

_“What?”_ He croaked out, sliding out from his place to stare at her all wide-eyed. “What is that… what does that even…”

“You, nevermind being alien, are exactly like every single other male species on the planet.”

“I am not!”

“But you are.”

“I’ve got a spaceship. I’ve got two hearts. I’ve got an intellect that would fairly boggle and mystify any human male who came upon it. Their heads would explode, okay? I am _not_ like every other male.”

“But you are,” Donna simply stated, eyes returning to her book. The Doctor glared at her and returned to his work, determined to ignore her for a good while as punishment (if she would even see that as a punishment)

The minutes ticked by. He was fairly sure he could hear the tell-tale sound of _tick-tock_ never mind that there wasn’t an actual clock in the console room. At least not one that made anything like that noise.

Slowly crawled forward. _Tick-tock._ So much time.

Exactly one minute and .23458 seconds and he scrambled back from under the console.

“What the hell made you say that?” he asked, telling himself that he didn’t sound like a puppy who’d just been kicked.

Donna slowly raised her eyes, focusing on him.

“I said that, because like with every other bloke, you get insanely jealous and then act like a bastard about it.”

She returned to her book. The Doctor stared.

Almost four minutes went by before he got a hold of his tongue this time. Quite a feat (and one Donna was very proud of, and would have to try out again sometime).

“I… I don’t…”

“But you do.”

“No!”

“Yeeees,” Donna said, drawing the word out slowly as she turned another page in tune with the word.

“I don’t!”

“Doctor!” she sighed, throwing the books away and enjoying the way it landed with a hard _thunk_ on the metal grating. “You proceeded to ask me and Rose to gather information on a planet we knew next to nothing about, while you went swanning of with this female alien – who, granted, was a bit green and tentacle-y, but still – and then, when Rose is finally getting something useful out of this one guy you appear as if out of nowhere, drags Rose away and then _shouts_ at her for being jeopardy-friendly and making friends with the supposed enemy!”

“But she was! That wasn’t jealousy that was common sense; _anyone_ could have seen that…”

“Neither Rose nor I are _anyone_ , how the hell were we supposed to know who was the rebels and who weren’t? We were tired and cold and trying to do what you told us while you went to some palace with some dainty female. Can you _see_ the problem in that?”

The Doctor folded his arms over his chest, sticking his chin in the air. “She was _flirting_ with him.”

“That is usually a very good way to get information.”

“No it isn’t!”

“Then _why_ …” Donna said, her voice as cold and hard as ice. “Do _you_ do it all the time?”

Silence.

“I don’t flirt.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, not really.”

“You flirt all the time. Not at much as Jack, granted, but I would still give you the title of space-whore any day.”

Okay, so she might’ve gone a bit too far with that one, but the look of utter indignation and mortification on his face was _definitely_ worth it.

“You… it’s… you…” he spluttered, clearly failing to come up with an appropriate response (if there ever was one to what she had just said). “Donna!”

“What?”

“You… this is _my ship_ …”

“And so I have to respect you? Tough.” Donna said, raising from her seat to go retrieve the book. “I might’ve been your friend first, but I also had to put up with your pining and angsting over Rose for a good while and then when she finally comes back – and may I point out that _she_ did the coming back, while you sat around writing morbid emo-poetry or something…”

“I didn’t…”

“… and then you act like a total shit towards her.”

Something shifted in his face, and Donna wondered if maybe she’d hit a bit too deep.

“I don’t… I don’t act like a total shit,” he quietly said. “I don’t…”

“But you do,” she said, her voice more gentle this time. “Look, we’re big girls, yeah, we can take care of ourselves, but there’s a reason that you haven’t seen Rose since we got back to the TARDIS and that is that _she_ doesn’t want to see you right now. Did you even think of that?”

He looked sheepish now. “I’m trying…” he trailed off.

“What?”

He groaned. “Donna…”

“I have to put up with your almost constant Rose-cuddling, you will answer me!”

“It’s just… I’m trying not… to be too clingy,” he finally got out, hand raised to scratch at the back of his neck in a show of embarrassment.

Donna blinked. “Oh…”

The Doctor shuffled his feet around, pointedly looking anywhere but at her. He wasn’t going to say any more, so she figured she’d have to push him. Again.

“But don’t you think she’d rather want that, than you just swanning off as soon as something new and interesting comes up?”

“I don’t do that!”

“No, not exactly, but you also didn’t make sure that we could see the difference between the rebels and those on our side.”

He kept scratching and Donna wondered if there was even any skin left there after all the interrogations she’d put him through lately.

“I’m… it’s just… after I lost her… Donna, I didn’t think I’d _ever_ see her again and now that she’s here I keep wondering if she really is and I’m… honestly, I’m scared every time she’s out of my sight, because what if this is all just a dream and I’m waking up and she’s never come back at all? But you humans, you’re so… delicate about your feelings and I don’t want her to… get tired of me.”

Donna stifled the urge to laugh. Or maybe cry. “You two really are a pair. Finally together, and still making moon-eyes while you think the other isn’t watching.”

“I don’t make moon-eyes at anyone!” The Doctor huffed, then suddenly stopped. “She makes moon-eyes at me?” he asked, sounding like an eight-year old who’d just been told that people could travel in time.

“Yeah. And you know, better be too clingy – and from what I know about Rose, she’ll be sure to inform you in vivid detail if she wants some more space – than actually push her away,” Donna said, sighing as she added the last part. “Especially because… she isn’t sure if she can trust you.”

“ _What_?!”

Donna flinched. Right. That’s what you get for blabber-mouthing about something secret that one of them had told her. But, honestly, she was exploding here. They were both going to her about their issues, _separately_ , and she didn’t mind being there for them – it was like watching a soap opera unfold in real life and they were her friends – but they were both so clueless and stupid, and there was a limit to what even she could take.

“Look, you should talk to her about it, yeah?” Donna said, holding her hands in the air in a ‘stop-and-calm-down’ gesture that she’d discovered worked on horses, and desperately hoped worked on Time Lords as well.

“But why wouldn’t she trust me?” he exclaimed, starting to pace back and forth, hands raking through his hair. Donna wondered how it stayed so thick with all the tugging he did on it, then belatedly realized that he’d asked a question.

“I said, talk to her about it! But… don’t mention I said anything, right?”

“But you did say something!”

“And it’s gonna help you go back to your Rose-cuddling, so quit complaining or we will throw _you_ out of an airlock, ‘kay?”

“Ha! You can’t fly this ship on your own.”

“I’m sure we’d figure something out.” Donna said with a grin, glad to have at least partially distracted him from his errant thoughts. “So, you gonna talk to Rose now?”

The Doctor blinked. “No!”

“What?”

“If she wanna be all sulky, then it’s her problem!”

“Have you not been listening to _anything_ I said?!”

“Yes! Of course I listen!”

“You dumbo! I am going to _kill_ you…”

“Whoa!” Rose’s voice drifted towards them from the other end of the console room. “Easy kids. What’s going on?”

Donna whirled around. “The Doctor was just being a total a…”

“He was just taking you to the planet Xryxxhr dot Delta Five where the grass is blue, okay?” the Doctor shouted, somehow managing to be louder than even her. He stalked briskly over and flipped levers, pressing buttons and the like, winking at Rose as he did so.

Donna was just about to walk over and smack him good and proper, when she noticed it. Raw, pink cheeks and red eyes from were Rose had been crying and not quite able to cover it up. And the defeated set of the Doctor’s shoulder that clearly showed that he had noticed it too.

 

oOo

 

“I’m sorry.”

“You say that a lot.”

“Well,” the Doctor mumbled, blinking in the near-darkness. “It’s because I am.”

Rose sighed, shifting against the hard wall behind her and the even harder floor beneath her. “Why do we always end up in prison?”

He grinned impishly. “It’s a gift.”

“Yeah,” she muttered. “At least this time you can’t blame me for it.”

She hadn’t meant for him to hear that last part. He did.

“I don’t blame you for anything, Rose,” he said. “Really, I don’t.”

“Yeah? Nothing? Dalek let loose, Reapers, almost starting a rebellion on Hedron… Hydro…”

“Hedrogenofilisofiatetes,” the Doctor said without missing a breath. “Erm, about that, you see… recent… studies of my behaviour made by some… impeccable sources… may have come to show that I… acted a bit too rashly according to the situation.”

Rose blinked. “Um, what?”

The Doctor sighed. “I was a total idiot back there and I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?”

“Yes, well and truly.”

“You say that a lot.”

“But I am!”

“No, you aren’t. Not sorry for dragging me away from that guy,” Rose said, her voice as certain as if she was speaking of the sky being blue. The Doctor’s hand clenched into fist, and he was suddenly glad for the darkness in their small cell that made sure she couldn’t see the expression on his face.

“I’m sorry for shouting at you,” he said.

“But not for dragging me away from that guy.”

Silence.

“Doctor, answer me.”

“You didn’t ask a question.”

“Were you jealous?”

The Doctor let out a low and humour-less chuckle. “Rose…”

“It’s fine if you weren’t,” she said, and he knew that she was trying to sound un-affected and if it had been anyone but him, he would have believed her fake tone. “I mean, you’re alien, you probably don’t… I mean… there’s bound to be some different… mind-set and rules and…”

“Rose…” he repeated, a soft inquiry to let him finish talking. His tongue darted out to wet his lips, suddenly as nervous as he had been back in her apartment two months ago, when he’d been almost sure she would never come with him again.

“I am jealous,” he finally said. “I’m jealous of everyone who’s with you when I’m not with you.”

He definitely heard her breath catch at that. Wanting to be near her, he slowly inched closer, his hand reaching out to touch hers, finding the tip of her finger resting on the floor, and gently stroking.

“That’s quite a lot of people,” Rose whispered into the darkness.

“Yep. Worse when they show you interest too. _Even_ worse when _you_ show them interest.”

“But I’m not… I mean…” she stopped herself, sighing loudly. “You _know_ I’m not interested in anyone else but you, not like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. It’s been like that since ‘run’. And if you say ‘Adam’ or ‘Mickey’ or even ‘Jack’ now, I will punch you. Or better yet, get Donna to punch you.”

The Doctor ignored the snickering that accompanied that, instead concentrating on stroking up the under-side of her fingers, gently tickling her palm before gliding his own fingers to the back of her hand.

“I won’t,” he promised.

“Good,” Rose said, and he heard her shift in the darkness. “You were really jealous?”

“I told you.”

“Seriously,” Rose said, her voice stern. “Doctor, there isn’t any concrete in here for you to resonate, so you might as well answer my question properly.”

“Rose,” he sighed, stroking her wrist now, finger-tips barely touching her pulse. “Really…”

“Because _I_ love you,” she interrupted. “And I know you’ve said it, and I’m not asking you to do it again or a lot or anything, it’s just that when you _do_ that and then pretend it’s _my_ fault and then pretend that nothing’s wrong… it hurts. And it hurts because I love you.”

“I love you as well,” he said with conviction, grasping the hand tighter. “Oh, so much. I love you like… like the smoke raised with the fume of sighs. I love you like a sea nourished with… no… no, wait sorry, that’s Shakespeare!”

“Doctor, don’t profess your love in idiot-mode,” Donna’s voice interrupted and the Doctor jumped in mild fright at how close she sounded. He could practically feel her glare and Rose had suddenly gone oddly silent.

“You forgot I was here, didn’t you?” Donna asked, and he just _knew_ she was going to be mad at only him again. _Dammit._

“I thought you were asleep,” he honestly answered, and suddenly he was sure that the other woman was _smiling._

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry Donna,” Rose chimed in with. Donna was still smiling that odd smile though. He could _feel it_.

“Doctor…” The red-head started, her voice as sweet as honey.

“Yeah?”

“That’s _my_ hand.”

His shriek might’ve been slightly girlish as he dropped it, but at least Rose was laughing.

And so was Donna, though hers sounded decidedly more evil.

 

oOo

 

The Doctor was lying in his bed – officially to get some rest, but the real reason was that it was better to feel miserable while lying in a bed instead of sitting in the library or in the console room.

He was miserable because Rose had done nothing but kiss his cheek and claim she was going to bed when they’d gotten back to the TARDIS – after some frankly _very_ impressive jiggery-pokery on his part, and yeah, Donna charming that guard _might_ have had something to do with it, but still. He was a genius.

Only, not genius enough to actually give Rose what made her happy. Which was the only thing he wanted, as of this moment.

He’d been lost enough in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard his door sliding open, nor the soft rustling of foot-steps approaching the bed. It wasn’t until the weight dipped beside him as someone settled in that he became aware of it, opening an eye to gaze at the intruder.

The very beautiful intruder.

Who was only wearing a towel.

Okay.

He was going to say something – hopefully something cleverer than ‘guh’ – he honestly was, but Rose had already kissed him, and Rose’s mouth on his usually meant he had to take at least twenty seconds to recover. Okay, maybe thirty. Fifty if she was going to do _that_ with her tongue.

“Where were you?” she asked as she pulled away from him, lying down on her side and looking intently at his face.

The Doctor blinked, trying to get a proper hold of his thoughts. “Um, in here?”

She pouted and _oh,_ that wasn’t fair.

“I thought you… nevermind,” she mumbled and he was going to ask her what she meant to say, he _really_ was, but she was kissing him again and honestly, could you blame him?

Warm, soft Rose was pressed against him and he was _definitely_ wearing too many clothes and she seemed to think so too, because she was opening the buttons on his shirt and tugging at his tie and a part of his brain was wondering when he had become such a slave to the sounds she made – like that sigh and that sharp intake of breath when he pushed her towel away and kissed his way down to her breasts.

“Doctor?” she whispered, and he groaned because now he had to shift his attention, and that honestly wasn’t fair.

“Yeah?” he muttered, looking up at her with dark eyes.

“No quoting Shakespeare in bed, okay?”

He laughed. “I promise.”

 


End file.
